• Initech Debuts with Low-Cost iTool Suite

  August 10, 2004 Alex Woodie

  When it comes to paying maintenance fees, Brian Bradley is probably like most AS/400 administrators. That is to say, he doesn’t like them. To avoid paying the fees, Bradley, who runs a data center in Mobile, Alabama, developed his own utilities, including security and object maintenance programs, to save his clients money. Now the entire iTool Suite is available for under $800 through his new venture, Initech. In his day job, Bradley is the technical director at Mobile Customer Service Data Center, which hosts servers and applications for 20 or so companies in the credit union and shipping industries.

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• Califon Systems Ships New Release of OS/400 Security Module

  August 10, 2004 Alex Woodie

  OS/400 is a notoriously secure operating system, but without proper exit point controls in place, PC-based users can gain unhindered access to the database. One of the providers of OS/400 network security products, Califon Systems, recently started shipping a new release of its network Security Module. New features with this release include the capability to restrict access by day or time, improved FTP server log-ons, and on-the-fly reporting of product settings for auditing purposes. You may not have heard about Califon Systems, a small OS/400 software developer based in Newport Beach, California. The company’s roots go back to 1989,

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• Fujitsu Siemens Adds OS/400 Support to Virtual Tape Library

  August 3, 2004 Alex Woodie

  Fujitsu Siemens Computers last week announced that it has added OS/400 support to its CentricStor virtual tape library. The disk-based server appliance can back a variety of different servers by emulating their tape library over a storage area network (SAN). The appliance has been sold in Europe since 2000 and was introduced to the U.S. market for the first time in June. The CentricStor line of rack-mounted virtual tape appliances is one of the new generation of “disk to disk” backup appliances that are gaining favor in data centers. Many organizations are opting to perform their primary backups directly to

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• MAPICS to Integrate Windows-Based CRM with ERP for iSeries

  August 3, 2004 Alex Woodie

  MAPICS accelerated its product extension strategy for iSeries ERP customers last week, when it announced an expansion of its alliance with IBM. The new deal will see IBM’s middleware and Web services technology being used to make additional applications available to manufacturers that use MAPICS ERP for iSeries software. The first extension product for iSeries customers, due later this year, is the MAPICS CRM software. IBM and MAPICS have remained close partners ever since IBM spun MAPICS off from its Atlanta software development group, nearly 25 years ago. With the majority of MAPICS customers still running their ERP software

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• Intentia Encourages Best Practices with New ‘Opportunity Analyzer’

  August 3, 2004 Alex Woodie

  If public companies invested in technology today the way they did during the dot-com boom, their shareholders would have fits. Unfortunately, predicting how you can get the biggest bang for your capital expenditure can be a hit and miss affair. Last month Intentia, the Swedish ERP software developer, launched new software called the Opportunity Analyzer, whose purpose is to put some structure behind the decisions senior business managers must make regarding investments for improving their business processes. Opportunity Analyzer, a component of Intentia’s Enterprise Performance Management suite, works with Movex, the company’s ERP product that runs on OS/400 and

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• Archiving System Saves Time and Money At Warner/Chappell

  August 3, 2004 Jerry Fireman

  Implementing a new PC-based archiving system is saving money and administrative time for Warner/Chappell Music. The music publishing company first substantially reduced the time required to access royalty reports by implementing a host-based system that archived reports from custom AS/400 applications, but the system was expensive to lease and difficult to administer. So Warner/Chappell pulled the plug on the old system and invested in a new system from Metafile Information Systems. Warner/Chappell Music started as a storefront in London in the early 1800s and is now the second largest music publishing business in the world. Warner/Chappell has a catalog

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• DB2/400: The Heart of a Supercomputer Cluster?

  July 27, 2004 Alex Woodie

  When you think of grid computing, chances are you envision clusters of computers working to solve a scientific problem. Base One International, a New York City developer of grid software, is working to change that preconception with its development tools that create a “virtual supercomputer cluster” of PCs built around a database, such as DB2/400, that is capable of tackling everyday back-office processing. Steve Asherman, president, chief technology officer, and co-founder of Base One, looks at all the work being done around Web services to connect disparate applications and platforms and wonders why it has to be so complex.

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• Support for SIP Expands Messaging Options for Stalker

  July 27, 2004 Alex Woodie

  Stalker Software this week is debuting a new release of its CommuniGate Pro messaging server software that supports a promising young technology called Session Initiation Protocol, or SIP. With the capability to initialize a number of different types of connections, including Voice Over Internet Protocol, secure instant messaging, and video conferencing, among others, SIP is positioned to open up a whole new world of mobile collaboration, Stalker says. SIP is an IP-based telephony signaling protocol under development by the Internet Engineering Task Force. It is a text-based protocol, similar to HTTP and SMTP, used to initiate interactive communication sessions

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• Affirmative Launches Ethernet-Based Twinax Controllers

  July 27, 2004 Alex Woodie

  Affirmative Computer is launching two new twinax controllers for connecting legacy AS/400 displays and printers to OS/400 servers via the IP. The iTwinax Controller Models 2407 and 2414 support seven and 14 devices respectively, and preserve the investment that OS/400 shops have made in older equipment while bringing them into today’s Ethernet networks. Affirmative Computers, in Tempe, Arizona, is best known for its line of Windows- and Linux-based thin clients for IBM‘s iSeries and zSeries host computers. The launch of the iTwinax Controller reflects a logical extension of Affirmative’s thin-client computer line, says Robert Kosednar, a vice president with

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• Mrc Christens New Java Development Tool: M-Power

  July 27, 2004 Alex Woodie

  Michaels, ross & cole last week announced M-Power, a new development tool for Java largely based on the mrc-Productivity Series development environment. As we previously reported, M-Power runs on all major databases and platforms and, as mrc points out, enables users to use inexpensive PCs to develop, test, and even run Web applications that previously would have been tethered, under mrc-Productivity Series, to an OS/400 server. Chicago-based mrc has been hinting at M-Power for several months through an ad campaign featuring Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution. In June, mrc announced that it would begin shipping its new development tool in

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